2 lines
6.0 KiB
HTML
2 lines
6.0 KiB
HTML
|
<p>To prove the vanity of all things under the sun, and their insufficiency to make us happy, Solomon here shows, 1. That the time of our enjoyment of these things is very short, and only while we <i>accomplish as a hireling his day</i>. We continue in the world but for one generation, which is continually passing away to make room for another, and we are passing with it. Our worldly possessions we very lately had from others, and must very shortly leave to others, and therefore to us they are vanity; they can be no more substantial than that life which is the <i>substratum</i> of them, and that is but a <i>vapour, which appears for a little while and then vanishes away</i>. While the stream of mankind is continually flowing, how little enjoyment has one drop of that stream of the pleasant banks between which it glides! We may give God the glory of that constant succession of generations, in which the world has hitherto had its existence, and will have to the end of time, admitting his patience in continuing that sinful species and his power in continuing that dying species. We may be also quickened to do the work of our generation diligently, and serve it faithfully, because it will be over shortly; and, in concern for mankind in general, we should consult the welfare of succeeding generations; but as to our own happiness, let us not expect it within such narrow limits, but in an eternal rest and consistency. 2. That when we leave this world we leave the earth behind us, that <i>abides for ever</i> where it is, and therefore the things of the earth can stand us in no stead in the future state. It is well for mankind in general that the earth endures to the end of time, when it and all the works in it shall be burnt up; but what is that to particular persons, when they remove to the world of spirits? 3. That the condition of man is, in this respect, worse than that even of the inferior creatures: <i>The earth abides for ever</i>, but man abides upon the earth but a little while. The sun sets indeed every night, yet it rises again in the morning, as bright and fresh as ever; the winds, though they shift their point, yet in some point or other still they are; the waters that go to the sea above ground come from it again under ground. <i>But man lies down and rises not</i>, <a class="bibleref" title="Job.14.7,Job.14.12" href="/passage/?search=Job.14.7,Job.14.12"><span class="bibleref" title="Job.14.7">Job 14:7</span>, <span class="bibleref" title="Job.14.12">12</span></a>. 4. That all things in this world are movable and mutable, and subject to a continual toil and agitation, constant in nothing but inconstancy, still going, never resting; it was but once that the sun stood still; when it is risen it is hastening to set, and, when it is set, hastening to rise again (<a class="bibleref" title="Eccl.1.5" href="/passage/?search=Eccl.1.5">Eccl. 1:5</a>); the winds are ever and anon shifting (<a class="bibleref" title="Eccl.1.6" href="/passage/?search=Eccl.1.6">Eccl. 1:6</a>), and the waters in a continual circulation (<a class="bibleref" title="Eccl.1.7" href="/passage/?search=Eccl.1.7">Eccl. 1:7</a>), it would be of as bad consequence for them to stagnate as for the blood in the body to do so. And can we expect rest in a world where all things are thus full of labour (<a class="bibleref" title="Eccl.1.8" href="/passage/?search=Eccl.1.8">Eccl. 1:8</a>), on a sea that is always ebbing and flowing, and her waves continually working and rolling? 5. That though all things are still in motion, yet they are still where they were; The sun <i>parts</i> (as it is in the margin), but it is to the same place; the wind turns till it comes to the same place, and so the waters return to the place whence they came. Thus man, after all the pains he takes to find satisfaction and happiness in the creature, is but where he was, still as far to seek as ever. Man’s mind is as restless in its pursuits as the sun, and wind, and rivers, but never satisfied, never contented; the more it has of the world the more it would have; and it would be no so
|